Silken tofu?

[bmccasland]

For my up coming camping trip, I made a batch of protein bars and the recipe called for "silken" tofu. Not being a vegetarian, I'm not into the various types and apparently neither are the clientel of my local grocery store - the Winn Dixie (red-neck R us). They had firm and extra firm. So I choose "firm". My question is - What's the texture difference between the "firm" and "silken"
Could have gone to *Whole Paycheck* but didn't want to drive that far for one thing, so WD had to do.

[KnottedYet]

From what I see (and eat) here, there are two main textures of tofu at my grocery store. Silken and Cotton. Silken is very smooth and kind of like custard or jello. Cotton is lumpy (?) like pressed cheese curd that has some little airpockets in it. Or like polenta. (I know my descriptions aren't that good, but that's what the tofus make me think of)

Each comes in various firmnesses (related to how much water is in it) like soft, firm, extrafirm.

I like the silken for desserts or mixing into batters, the cotton for marinating and using like meat. Generally I choose firm or extrafirm, just cuz soft falls apart easily. Sometimes I drain/press the water out of some extrafirm cotton and then marinate it if I want to fry it like a burger.

I also really like tempeh, but that's another story...

[Eden]

Yeah - silken and firm are not too much alike.. silken should have pretty much the texture of a firm custard and firm is generally more crumbly - if you were to mash it up it would probaby end up looking more like crumbled sausage or scrambled eggs. Silken on the other hand you can put in a blender and make it completely smooth. My favorite is choclolate tofu pie - so easy - so yummy - not so guilty

put in a blender 1 block of silken tofu
1/3 cup of liquid (I've used at different times hazelnut milk, soy milk and espresso)
1 bag of chocolate chips, melted
1 tbs of honey if you need a little more sweetness

blend until smooth, pour into a graham cracker crust, chill and eat

[alpinerabbit]

Would you share your recipe? This sounds really interesting!

[KnottedYet]

Oooh, Eden! Thanks for the recipe! I wanna make that, at least the filling part with maybe some fresh strawberries or raspberries on top!

Mmmmmmm!

[Eden]

Yeah - it works nice without the pie crust too - like a firm mousse. I like to use Azumaya (sp?) tofu if I can get it because their silken is really smooth and doesn't have a lot of tofuey aftertaste.

[bmccasland]

Since Eden gave us a recipe for guiltless Pie, I figured Alpine was asking for the Protein Bars...
From Food Network - Alton Brown. Warning, he weighs things.

4 oz soy protein powder, approx 1 cup
1 1/4 oz oat bran, approx 1/2 cup
2 3/4 oz whole-wheat flour, approx 1/2 cup
3/4 oz wheat germ, approx 1/2 cup
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups mixed dried fruit, diced into little bits unless you buy it that way
(Alton gave weights of 4 different dried fruits)
1 cup or more combo of nuts & seeds, chopped (my addition, I LIKE nuts)
1 (12.3 oz) pkg silken tofu
1/2 cup unfiltered apple juice (could probably use other juices)
4 oz brown sugar, approx 1/2 cup packed
2 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
oil for pan.

Line the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with parchment paper and lightly coat with oil. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl combine the protein powder, oat bran, wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt. Stir in the dried fruit to coat and separate. Add the nuts. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth. * unless you have *firm*, then dice it into little itty bits.
Add the apple juice, brown sugar, eggs, and peanut butter. Add this to the protein powder mixture. Commence mushing with your hands, easier than trying to stir it with a spoon. Spread evenly in the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until golden brownish. (He has that the internal temperature reaches 205F, like I have a thermometer that could do that). Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting into squares or bars.
Since I had some flax seeds, I used some of those too.

These bars aren't very sweet. If you feel particularily indulgent, you could probably add some chocolate chips. Or do like the commercial bar companies and sprinkle on top after the batch has baked, return to the oven briefly to melt, then spread evenly. When cool cut into bars, then stick in the refrig to resolidify the chocolate.

I cut mine to fit the ziplock snack size baggies.

[Pika]

Thanks for the recipes- I am going to try them both I have, as we speak some silken tofu that is begging to be used up! I usually make a thai curry paste to put on the tofu and then I bake it.
It is delicious on meat as well I imagine-chicken would be the best.
Thai curry paste
1/4c chopped scallions
1/4c chopped fresh cilantro, basil or thai basil
2tbs minced garlic cloves
2tbs grated fresh giner
1tbs freshly grated lemon or lime peel or tender inner stalk of lemon grass
1tbs brown sugar
1or2 fresh red or green chilies minced
3tbs fresh lemon or lime juice
1tbs ground corianer
1tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt

combine all ingredients in food processoe and puree until quite smooth.
Yum yum
It keeps for a week in the fridge but also freezes well- it is great on steamed veggies too!

[geetoki]

Thanks for the recipes- I am going to try them both I have, as we speak some silken tofu that is begging to be used up! I usually make a thai curry paste to put on the tofu and then I bake it.
It is delicious on meat as well I imagine-chicken would be the best.
Thai curry paste
1/4c chopped scallions
1/4c chopped fresh cilantro, basil or thai basil
2tbs minced garlic cloves
2tbs grated fresh giner
1tbs freshly grated lemon or lime peel or tender inner stalk of lemon grass
1tbs brown sugar
1or2 fresh red or green chilies minced
3tbs fresh lemon or lime juice
1tbs ground corianer
1tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt

combine all ingredients in food processoe and puree until quite smooth.
Yum yum
It keeps for a week in the fridge but also freezes well- it is great on steamed veggies too!

Thanks for sharing the info. Very Useful.

[Tri Girl]

I teach a cooking class to my 8th graders at school, and we focus on healthy recipes. For their end of the year party, I made them a chocolate tofu pie. Only I just used cocoa powder instead of the chocolate chips, and I didn't use silken tofu- just extra firm in the blender.
I didn't tell them what it was made of.
They LOVED it!!
And then I told them.
And they STILL loved it.

[Atlas]

There are several brands of silken tofu, the most common is Mori-nu and it's shelf stable so sometimes you'll find it on a shelf and sometimes in the cooler. Silken tofu itself comes in several levels of firmness as someone else pointed out and firm or extra firm is usually the one used. The different coagulants are what give tofu it's various textures. Non silken tofu (Chinese style/regular tofu) isn't quite as smooth as silken, especially when blending. It'd be a decent substitute if it only called for a small amount, but for something like tofu chocolate mousse or a tofu peanut butter pie it'd be worth it to track down the silken tofu. I think it's the easiest to find at regular grocery stores because it's shelf stable.